Novelist and journalist Dave Hill

May 31, 2007

A Strange Day In The South West

This has been peculiar day, combining tourism, elder care, and trying to keep things ticking over on the work front. I've had a phone conversation about the local teenage binge drinkers while loitering in a hospital consulting room, tried and failed to get a haircut and hand-written part of this post while sitting in a pew in Bath Abbey. I've also felt warm sunshine and been rained on from a great height. It's all been a bit odd. The only times I've felt in contact with my usual self have been while in that consulting room, in the reception area of a civic building I visited and in that pew. I'm rarely to be found in any such places, yet each provided a little haven for private contemplation where no one was demanding things from me or trying to sell me anything. It strikes me that such spaces are increasingly hard to find outside the sanctuary of your own home. Profound, huh? And maybe a bit of a shame too.